For years, Unity and Unreal have held sway over the game‑development landscape, powering roughly seventy percent of the titles that appeared on Steam in 2025. While Godot has enjoyed notable growth and some studios cling to proprietary solutions—Capcom’s RE Engine being a prime example—the market has largely been monopolised by the two giants. Against this backdrop, three seasoned industry veterans—Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient—have launched Immens, a new AI‑enhanced game engine that they believe can carve out a fresh niche and push the status quo forward. The founders’ résumés read like a who’s‑who of modern game development.
Brussee helped build the original Unity engine, De Jong contributed to the acclaimed Horizon series at Guerrilla Games, and Valient spent time at Epic Games, Apple, and Boss Key. Their collective experience spans the very companies they now aim to challenge.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee argued that the timing is ripe for a new engine, noting that “a few years ago this simply wasn’t possible.” He credits advances in AI‑assisted programming for opening the door to building something from the ground up with unprecedented speed and flexibility. Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarifies that the AI embedded in their platform is not the typical “prompt‑to‑content” gimmick that dominates headlines. Instead, the AI functions as an extensibility layer, capable of reasoning about large codebases and data sets. “If we design the engine with AI in mind, even solo developers or tiny teams can plug in custom systems—say a bespoke particle effect—without being constrained to a narrow scripting environment,” he explains.
This approach aims to empower creators to extend the engine rapidly, using AI as a catalyst rather than a replacement for human ingenuity. One of the driving forces behind Immens is the increasingly hostile economics of game development. Brussee describes the current climate as “rough,” pointing out that production costs keep climbing, making it harder for studios to survive. “We need new ways of working that cut expenses, let smaller teams deliver faster, and reduce the financial risk to developers,” he says.
De Jong echoes this sentiment, observing that the engine market has become overly standardized and consolidated. While that consolidation has provided a stable foundation, he believes the industry now demands genuine innovation, not merely incremental improvements. According to De Jong, existing engines often impose a monolithic workflow, forcing developers to adapt to proprietary file formats and rigid pipelines. With AI, Immens intends to flip that script, offering an engine that molds itself to the user’s needs.
“Flexibility is key,” he says. “You should be able to swap components, add new tools, and tailor the interface to match your personal workflow—whether that means custom shortcuts, specialised panels, or entirely new editors.” This level of customisation, he argues, is essential for fostering creativity and efficiency. Valient acknowledges that AI is a double‑edged sword. While it can accelerate development dramatically, it can also veer off course if left unchecked.
To mitigate this, Immens is built to keep the user in full control, providing transparent histories of AI actions and ensuring repeatable results. He illustrates the potential with a simple example: generating five distinct characters with specific traits that previously might have taken weeks can now be prototyped over a coffee break, then refined or discarded as needed.
This rapid iteration, he believes, could dramatically lower the cost of experimentation. Immens’s architecture deliberately avoids imposing a single workflow.
De Jong stresses that developers can decide how much AI to incorporate and where to apply it, as long as the underlying system can interpret the AI’s output correctly. Open standards also play a pivotal role.
By using text‑based file formats, Immens enables seamless interoperability with tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI pipeline. “When everything speaks the same language, you can plug in external software without fighting against closed‑source barriers,” Brussee notes.
The broader conversation around AI in games is polarised. Some critics warn of a future where a single prompt could spawn a Grand‑Theft‑Auto‑style world, reducing the craft to a click‑to‑play button. Immens’s team acknowledges this hype but frames AI as a tool that amplifies human talent rather than replaces it. Valient says, “Big games will still be made by people, but AI will make everyone better.” De Jong adds that responsible use is essential; any technology can be misused, but it’s up to the industry to guide it constructively.
Economic anxieties also linger. Skeptics point to inflated AI valuations and fear a bubble.
Valient counters that while bubbles burst, the underlying technology usually endures—compare the dot‑com crash to the continued growth of the internet. Immens’s focus, he says, is on delivering a solid engine; AI merely accelerates the process and expands creative horizons. Funding remains modest. Immens has secured its “first commitments” but has not disclosed amounts, describing the target as “reasonable.” Brussee warns against over‑funding, noting that excess capital can breed complacency.
The company remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design. De Jong explains that building an engine is a complex, iterative endeavour that benefits from a small, focused team making deliberate decisions rather than a massive, unwieldy workforce. Currently, Immens is working toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases AI‑driven editing workflows, slated for release later this month. The timeline has already outpaced original expectations: what was projected to take until year‑end is now arriving in half that time.
As for the business model, Brussee admires Epic’s “we succeed when you succeed” philosophy but admits it’s too early to commit to a specific approach. Ultimately, the founders hope Immens will rekindle risk‑taking and artistic ambition in the industry. “We love games as complex expressions of art,” Brussee says. “We want more creativity, more daring projects, and we think this technology can help make that happen.” If successful, Immens could become a catalyst for a new wave of indie innovation, offering developers the freedom, speed, and affordability they need to break the cycle of ever‑rising costs and limited creative control.